kthorne@umich.edu
This is a large quilt, about 56 X 56. It hangs on my sewing room wall. 2004
There are more quilts to view, see sidebar for categories.
I wanted to do a piece with linear elements, set on the diagonal. This one seemed so busy, had to call it Rush Hour. 31×42″
Detail:
This one is not new, finished in 2006. But I haven’t posted it before. It was started in a quilt workshop taught by Priscilla Bianchi, a wonderful quilt artist from Guatemala. She brought with her some scraps of colorful Guatemalan fabric (the lower border stripe is one). I almost completed the whole piece in the class. When I got home, I did not have my piece! How could I have lost it? I went back to the workshop building and asked the staff if anyone had turned it in. No. I searched around the classrooms and even the parking lot. I could not find it anywhere.
So I went home and reproduced my piece from memory! It’s called Dancers because of the swaying effect of the towers and their party fringe. 25 x 23″
This one just kind of evolved. I think it looks good on the black background. I added the black rick-rack near the center for a little more interest. Circular quilting. 2022.
43 x 47″
Detail:
This one is a companion to the Garden Path I just posted. The floral print with black and white is a great partner with the black/white “insert” path. I like it on the horizontal. 23 x 39″
DETAIL:
This one started with black and white, combined in gentle curves. Then I cut through the piece vertically to add strips of floral fabric. The black sections are quilted in curved lines. The white sections have tiny bubble stitches. Size is 19 x 33 inches. I think it could be used on a wall vertically or horizontally, or as a table runner.
Detail:
When I finished this one, it appeared to have a cosmic atmosphere. Thus the name. I used commercial fabrics as well as my hand-dyed. Circular quilting.
DETAIL:
Sometimes it’s fun to just cut up colorful fabric and make flowers. I’m very fond of the real ones, from my gardens, so they so show up in my work often too. These are fused to the background, which is two fabrics sewn together. Then the flowers are stitched down with some embellishments. I started with the black rickrack stems, for lots of drama. Petals and leaves are hand-dyed fabrics.
Detail
This one is pieced in a windmill pattern, free-cut. I used 3 different black fabrics, and nine white fabrics with a variety of design features. I machine-quilted in the black sections, and in the white I hand-stitched in a raspberry color. From a distance you can’t see those stitches, but when you get close, you can see them, as well as the reason for its title!
Detail, showing hand stitches
I have made many bed quilts, just about everyone in my family has at least one. But for the first time… I made one for Tom and I. And even though I measured exactly the size that was perfect for our bed with a duvet cover, I got it a little wrong (too big). But, it’s done and I’m happy with it. I got to use my fun collection of plaids. Laura Jarvis of KootsiQuilting did the stitching with a flower pattern.
Detail:
I used a lot of greens, prints, multi-colors, and hand printed fabrics. I made two halves, planning to sew them together to make a full circle, but then I saw that the two halves made an interesting arrangement if offset. The red center line gives the eye a place to rest from all that busy-ness! Finished the background with concentric circles.
Detail:
QUILTS BY KATIE McGRATH 